MICROANALYSIS OF HUMAN NAILS BY PIXE MEASUREMENT USING HEAVY ION MICROPROBES

Abstract

Human nails were analyzed by PIXE measurements using focused 3MeV Si2+ and 2MeV proton beams. It was found that the 3MeV Si2+ ions have a higher sensitivity for sodium and aluminium, on the other hand, 2MeV protons have a higher sensitivity for sulfur, potassium and calcium in nails. By using 3MeV Si2+ microprobe, it was observed that the sodium is distributed uniformly with some depletion areas and that aluminium segregates in grains. It shows an advantage of a heavy ion microprobe over a proton microprobe.